A Rush of Blood to the Head
by Anita
Summary: So I'm gonna buy a gun and start a war, if you can tell me something worth fighting for.
1. A Rush of Blood

A Rush of Blood to the Head

_So I'm gonna buy a gun and start a war,  
If you can tell me something worth fighting for_

---

"Mulder, slow down, you need to tell me what's going on." Scully grabbed Mulder's arm before he could take another hurried step.

"I need to pack. My flight leaves in three hours." Mulder muttered, not looking Scully in the eye.

"Where are you going? Why is this so urgent?"

"Dana." Mulder started. "I need to do this. I've been waiting on this lead for half a year and finally I'm making some progress. I can't wait any longer."

"And what about me? What about us, Mulder?" Scully sighed.

"Dana…"

"Mulder." Scully bit back, giving him a hard stare. She wasn't going to let him convince her to back down by using his soft nature. She was sick of giving in and standing down.

"You can come with me, Scully." Mulder suggested, but they both knew that wasn't going to happen. She had given up that life years ago, ever since…

"Just go, Fox." Scully growled. She didn't want to fight anymore.

Mulder packed his bags and left without so much as a good-bye.

* * *

"John." Reyes' soft voice echoed through Doggett's mind. "John, honey, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Doggett's voice was barely a whisper, yet it was still rough and curt. He wanted nothing to do with her.

Reyes gave him a small smile. "I was hoping you were up to going out tonight. It's been so long since we've –"

"No." Doggett cut her short. He didn't need her. He just needed silence. His solitude.

"Are you sure?" Reyes asked, masking the hurt on her face, but unable to hide it from her voice.

"Yes Monica. Now, just leave me be." Doggett begged.

"But, John…" She began.

"Please!" He demanded, glaring at her sharply.

Reyes nodded, squeezing his hand gently with her own. She wanted him to know that she was there if he needed her.

But he could never hear her.

* * *

John Doggett sat alone, his head ducked out of sight, lost to the world. He cradled the remains of a scotch in his hand; just bitter enough.

And she walked in, her shimmering red hair like a beacon. She was confident and secure, she had direction. She knew what she wanted and exactly how to get it. There were no doubts. He watched her, entranced at the sight.

It was all a façade. There was no certainty. She was lost, searching for the answers she knew could not be found at the bottom of a glass. She was a reflection of the turmoil in his soul. He could not keep away.

It was Scully who took a seat next to him and all words were lost.

"You're staring." She noted defiantly.

"I'm sorry?" He asked, attempting to feign innocence.

"You've been staring at me since I walked through that door." Scully explained. "Either you want to make a move on me or you're trying to distract yourself from your own misery. Neither will work, unfortunately for you."

He felt compelled to wipe away the knowing look on her face. "What the hell do you know about me?" Doggett spat back at her but she barely batted an eyelid.

"I know that look." Scully mumbled. "You're broken."

"And so are you."

She gave him a wan smile, pursing her deep red lips. "You only know what you are."

The champagne colouring of her dress reflected a dull hue from the bar lights. It slipped carelessly off of her shoulder. He stared at the colour until his eyes could take no more. Anywhere but her face.

"I lost my son."

Scully blinked once. "I'm sorry." Doggett was drawn to the sincerity in her voice. Sheer kindness from a complete stranger. The compassion struck him.

But there was no pity. He didn't deserve pity.

"Do you have kids?" He asked, noticing the ring on her finger.

"No." Her bitterness sliced through him and they fell silent once more.

Scully's face held no emotion, her words would not yield; she had no favours to grant. Yet her eyes…

Her clear blue eyes told a tale unlike any other. A tale they both knew too well. A story that made him want to lace his fingers through hers. It made him want to graze the soft skin of her neck.

Instead, she turned away without another word and walked out the door, never to return.

He waited all night.


	2. Mixed Doubles

_Four years later…_

---

"Hurry up, Mulder." Scully's voice filtered through as Mulder guiltily turned his laptop off.

"Coming, Scully."

Scully tried her hardest to forgive him. She had always believed she was a magnanimous person, but she was finding her patience had lately been running thin. This would be their first night out in ages and Mulder was not taking anything seriously. He had barely looked at her all night, engrossed in the things he had promised her he would give up for at least one day. For her sake.

He was always gone, off on some new witch-hunt. Never there on the cold nights she needed his comforting touch. Never there when he promised he would be. Never there if his conspiracies needed him instead. Never there when the clear blue sky reminded her of…

"Ready." Mulder announced, clad in a suit. He grinned at Scully.

"Finally." She sighed reproachfully.

Mulder's smile faltered. "Please. I'm trying."

Neither of them wanted another fight. "Let's go, Mulder."

* * *

Doggett watched Reyes out of the corner of his eye. She was mingling, chatting, laughing with every person she met. She socialized as if it was the last party she would ever attend. She was in her element. 

And she had brought him here for what reason? If anything, he was a blot on her spotless record. A deadweight husband who had barely spoken two words. 

Reyes politely excused herself from another conversation and took a seat next to Doggett.

She smiled at him, her voice bright. "Are you having fun?"

"I'm having a blast." Doggett deadpanned.

Reyes frowned. "John, I brought you here to cheer you up. The people here are kind and they are all good friends of mine. All you have to do is try a little harder, that's all."

"I'll get right on that." Doggett mumbled.

"Please?" She asked again, placing her hand on his. "For me?"

He nodded silently and she squeezed his hand in appreciation. But before he could get another word in, she was off once more.

* * *

Scully revelled in the pleasantries and the polite small talk. She eyed Mulder, who was joking with the guys, and smiled inwardly. It had been a good idea to come out for once, for them to enjoy themselves.

Lost in her thoughts, Scully did not notice the person walking toward her, drinks in hand. Fortunately for Scully, the other woman caught sight of her, narrowly avoiding disaster.

"I'm sorry about that." Scully apologized.

The woman smiled back at her, dismissing the apology with a pleasant shake of her head. "Don't mention it. These crowded parties can get a bit hectic, don't you think?"

Scully laughed and nodded in spite of herself. It had been ages since she had heard herself laughing, yet this woman seemed to bring out the bright spirit in her that she thought she had lost.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Dana Scully."

But the other woman's eyes were elsewhere. Scully watched her pause, her mouth slightly agape, before she spoke in shock.

"Fox Mulder? Is that you?"

Scully turned around to find her husband staring back in surprise.

"Monica Reyes?"

* * *

Twenty minutes into a dreadfully boring conversation about global warming and Doggett was certain he was not feeling any better.

"John!" Reyes called out to him excitedly. He was grateful that she had given him a reprieve, an escape route. He excused himself and made his way over to her.

Before Doggett could even begin to grasp at any sense of solid perception, he felt himself hit by striking blue eyes that had haunted him for the past four years. Eyes he had believed he would never see again for the rest of his life. The same eyes that made him want to drown into a world he knew would never let him go.

"John, this is Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Fox and I go way back. We actually met while I was at the FBI academy in Quantico…" Reyes explained, her smile even wider now, her voice that much brighter.

Scully shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Mulder's job, her past life. She shifted once more as she felt Doggett's gaze fall upon her.

"Nice to meet you." Mulder gave Doggett a strong handshake. Doggett nodded back as politely as he could.

"We have a lot of catching up to do, Fox." Reyes said.

A flash of dread crossed Scully's face and she excused herself, her demeanour suddenly sour once more. But neither Mulder nor Reyes seemed to notice.

So Doggett traced her steps, finding himself sitting next to Scully once more. Alone.

He was content to sit in silence.

* * *

"Four years." She whispered.

"What?"

"It's been four years since we met." Scully repeated, raising her voice above the noise around them.

Doggett paused before looking toward the ground. "I didn't think you remembered me…"

Scully watched him, opening her mouth to reply. Instead, she decided against it, turning her attention elsewhere, to Mulder and Reyes.

"Your wife is very kind and loving. You're lucky."

Doggett scoffed, causing Scully to turn back to him.

"Sometimes perfection isn't all it's cracked up to be." He mumbled, causing her to stare harder at him with her stone cold eyes.

Scully absent-mindedly tugged at the ring on her finger. "But I'm sure she's there whenever you need her."

He watched the light reflect off of the gold band, colours playing soft games on his mind.

"…You would be surprised."

Their eyes locked for a brief moment in quiet understanding.

But the night was quickly over and their homes were miles apart. It was a harsh and long divide that separated them.

Yet they could not deny the tempting lure.


	3. This Unlawful Silence

Doggett's eyes remained closed, yet he was keenly focused on the sounds that Reyes made as she prepared for the coming day. The sharp whistle of a kettle. The thunderous torrent of her shower. The scratch of her key turning the lock. He waited patiently until he was certain that she had left and that he was finally alone.

Sitting up, his eyes were inevitably drawn to the same thing they had been drawn to for the last five years. A single picture frame at the side of his bed.

Doggett cradled the portrait in his hands. Soft brown eyes and a playful grin stared back at him. A boy, not having even reached the age of eight, who was devoid of all sorrow. The same misery Doggett had decidedly taken upon himself.

His phone rang, momentarily breaking him away from his melancholy.

After a second's pause, he decided to take the call. "Doggett."

The voice on the other end hesitated. "I need you to come over. Please." It was a voice he knew all too well. An unfamiliar plea.

"Scully?"

She had already hung up.

He didn't know whether to be elated or consumed by his confusion. When it came to her, there was so little that he knew.

But he did know that no matter how hard he tried to convince himself otherwise, he was going to go to her. There was no other choice.

* * *

Scully refused to chastise herself as she heard the doorknob turn. In her moment of weakness she had called him. Even though a part of her had known it was the wrong thing to do. But she just couldn't stand to be alone anymore…

"Scully, is something wrong?" Doggett's voice was gentle.

She remained silent.

He didn't push the matter, simply taking a seat next to her on the couch. She could feel his calming effect emanate into the recesses of her heart.

"It's ok, you don't have to tell me. I already know." Doggett smiled ruefully. "You only know what you are."

Scully finally chose to speak. "I don't have any children."

He nodded slowly. "You told me."

She had. Four years ago. She had to remind herself that it had not been an eternity.

"But there's more, isn't there, Scully?" He had to know.

"I can't have children." The confession sliced through her soul, the cold fear of the truth encircling her throat.

Doggett studied Scully warily. Even she didn't know what was next. Her resolve would not be broken. In front of this man, she would not allow herself to break.

And then he placed his hand on top of hers.

"It was today." Scully sputtered out. "Seven years ago…when they took m–" The words would not move.

He couldn't look her in the eye. His hand trembled as he held hers.

"Where is Mulder?" Doggett's tone was accusatory. Hypocritical. Echoing hollowly through the empty halls.

Scully's eyes caught his in shock, yet she was speechless once more.

There was so much that she could never voice.


	4. Requiem

_Six months later…_

--

The curtains had been drawn. The stage had been set. There was no turning back now.

As Doggett strode to her place, he knew something had changed. They had shifted. Someone had pulled them into high gear. Electricity sparked in his veins.

Doggett was not a superstitious man, but he would have bet his life on his instinctual premonitions. The dark side of his heart knew that the world would tilt that day. There was an invisible line that needed to be crossed. This was it.

They had come so far.

Doggett had reached Scully's apartment and found her crumpled on the floor. Half alive. Under his gaze she did not stir.

"Dana!"

Weighed down with fear he rushed to her lifeless form and marvelled at the accuracy of his intuition. Was this the culmination of their unfulfilled sin? An answer to the ghost of a question?

It was their final day of reckoning. It had to end sometime.

Spurred by his urgency, Scully finally moved. Sporadically, like a woman who had already been devoured by the madness of her fate. Scully's breathing wavered as she gasped for air. Any small piece of normalcy.

"John?" She asked with a faraway voice. Her eyes were glazed over, tracing a world that he could not see.

Her face held an emotion he could not quite understand, an emotion he was certain she never wanted him to see.

"He's gone." She whispered, over and over again. As if the words could somehow make the reality easier to accept.

Scully collapsed, defeated, into Doggett's arms.

"He's gone."

* * *

It was an irritatingly sunny day that shone down on the congregation. A handful of grievers surrounded the casket, but no one uttered a single word. They simply watched the unbidden anguish that sketched Scully's face. This woman, stronger than all else, was coming undone. Her pain put every other emotion and condolence to shame. It was a testament to his fallen soul.

The priest rambled, almost an afterthought to the proceedings. Almost a mockery of everything that had come before, of everything that would come after. Had anyone even known him besides her? Had she even really known? Scully clung valiantly to each hollow phrase.

What had his last words been? His last thought? Had he thought of her? Would she do the same when she took her dying breath?

Scully had never been the one who found the answers; that had been his job. She was the one who had chosen to run away.

Maybe she had run too far, too fast.

"May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace."

In one swift moment, Fox Mulder was set deep into the ground, never to rise again.

* * *

Doggett wandered aimlessly, unsure of his own footing. He had barely known Mulder. All he could recall was the faint edge of hatred, but it now seemed remarkably unfounded. Did he have the right to forgive a man whose faults were eerily similar to his own?

He stumbled upon Scully. She was seated rigidly on a decrepit park bench. Doggett took his seat quietly, afraid to make any noise, afraid to frighten her away. She was like dirty glass that had been waiting to shatter.

She turned to face him with a sense of déjà vu. How many times had the two of them sat like this, side-by-side, unable to speak the truth?

Did Scully even know what the truth was anymore?

"I can't stay here." She started. "I have to stop this."

"Stop what?"

Scully levelled her shoulders, regaining a shred of her dignity and her resolve. "The informant that Mulder had gone to see contacted me. This was no accident, Doggett. This was foul play."

Doggett nodded. For the first time he knew exactly where their conversation was headed.

He would have done the same.

"I have to find out why he died. I have to finish what he started." Scully felt the bile bubble to her throat. "No one else will."

This was what she had turned her back on. This was the one thing she had vowed she would never do again. Scully had promised herself time after time that it wasn't the life she wanted. Now all of her reasons sounded frail as they tumbled through her mind.

Without warning, the sky rumbled to life and torrential rains began to fall, mingling with the tears that finally emerged from Scully's crystalline eyes.


	5. There Is No Resolution

"John, please, you have to promise me this once!" Reyes pleaded fervently with her husband.

"What is it, Monica?" Doggett sighed, clearly pre-occupied with straying thoughts.

"There's a wonderful new restaurant that just opened downtown. I would love for us to go there tonight, just the two of us." Reyes lowered her voice momentarily. "It's been so long since it's been just the two of us…"

Doggett's gaze finally reached Reyes' face as he began to focus on the things he had forgotten. The way her lips curved, the way her voice wavered, the way her forehead wrinkled. All because of him.

It had been too long.

"Alright Monica." Doggett mustered a smile. "Tonight."

Reyes left him with a swift peck on his cheek, but not a single word.

It wasn't necessary. Every word he needed to hear he could read through her shining eyes.

* * *

Scully paced up and down her apartment impatiently. There was so much she needed to tell Doggett. Why was he so late?

"You called me?" Doggett entered, forsaking a greeting.

Scully wasn't in the mood for pleasantries either. "I met with Mulder's lead again. He had a lot to tell me."

Doggett took a seat, clearly interested in the details.

"Down in Boston there's an organization called Persicon. A packaging company. At least that's what they seem to be from the outside. Mulder and his informant uncovered what they were really doing in that building."

Scully's breath came out in waves and she tried to steady herself. It was still hard to talk about.

"Go on." Doggett said gently.

"Hereditary mapping. DNA testing. Genetic manipulation. Persicon is a government-run company that has been illegally working on subjects for years to serve unknown purposes. There are no packages. They claim the homeless and the ill, those who can go missing for days and not be missed." Scully explained.

Doggett's eyes widened. "Mulder went to investigate the truth behind their operations?"

"We don't know if he ever discovered what they were trying to achieve."

"Did he – was he…?" Doggett bit his tongue, unable to speak the horrid idea that came to his mind. It would only add fire to Scully's anguish.

"You want to know if they tested on Mulder before he…" Scully's eyes betrayed her as unshed tears conspicuously threatened to fall. "We don't know."

Doggett nodded gravely.

"I don't know if he suffered at the end." Scully admitted.

"He was a strong guy, one of the strongest I've ever seen. Whatever they threw at him, I'm sure he was fine. I mean, this is Mulder we're talking about!" He rambled ineloquently, attempting to soothe her fears.

"We need to stop them, John."

The words held such tense inevitability that Doggett almost forgot that this same woman had almost been in tears seconds earlier.

"Dana…"

"I can't let Persicon experiment with any more innocent lives." Scully continued. "We need to stop them."

"I don't know if that's such a smart move on our part."

"I'm not asking you, Doggett, I'm telling you. Either you're with me or you're not, but I'm going to Boston tomorrow morning, no matter what your choice is."

Doggett persisted. "These people killed Mulder! They're dangerous, Scully. You have to think this through. You have to make sure you stay alive."

"Why?" The hopelessness in her tone was palpable.

"It's what Mulder would have wanted!"

He watched as a strange darkness shadowed her eyes. She would not listen to his emotionally manipulative words. Scully was not one to be played with. Not anymore.

He needed to try a different angle

"It's what I need." Doggett admitted softly.

The anger on her face dissolved.

"Dana, I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."

They paused, lost in days, months, years worth of whispers that they had left unsaid. But it was too late now. Everything had changed.

"Then come with me, John."

He had never been able to deny her anything.

* * *

Doggett can't leave her. He can see the sorrow that flickers quietly through Scully's demeanour.

"Stay."

It is all she needs to say.

* * *

Reyes stirred from her sleep. Finding herself on the couch, she heard the door unlock. She blearily looked at her watch and noted the late hour. 4 am.

As always, she had been left waiting.

"John?" She asked, knowing with complete certainty who it was.

"Reyes? You awake?"

Her eyes narrowed. He didn't even have the decency to call her by her first name. Had they really changed so much in such a short time? It was like they were two complete strangers living under the same roof. She felt like she didn't know him at all anymore.

"You didn't call. I was worried." Reyes' words were accusatory.

"I'm sorry. Really, I am." Doggett chose to ignore the bite in her tone.

"You promised me that we could go out tonight." Reyes shook her head in baffled exasperation. "If you had told me I wouldn't have put on my clothes."

Doggett noticed the lacy black dress she was wearing and his focus snapped back to the present. His wife. The small concession he had made that morning in the hopes of fixing what was already beyond broken.

"Where were you, John?"

He remained silent.

"You were at Scully's weren't you?" Reyes said, decidedly weary. "She called and you came running without a second thought, without wasting a single brain cell on me."

"Dana's going through a hard time. And Mulder's death has led to some important information that we can't overlook. We need to pursue this. Our relationship can wait, Monica."

"Can it? Do we even have a relationship anymore?"

"I love you." Doggett announced without hesitation.

Reyes looked away from his eyes. "We haven't had love in years. I don't know what it is, John, but you barely say two words to me unless I push you to. I don't know what sin I've committed. If you spent half as much time with me as you do with Scully…"

He was on the defensive. "But Scully –"

"Just because she lost her husband, does it mean I have to lose mine?" Reyes spat back.

They both knew that he had been lost to her for far longer than they wanted to admit. It was endgame.

"She needs me."

But Doggett wasn't sure if he was actually the one who needed Scully.

Spurred by the finality of this unspoken truth, Doggett walked out the door with no intention of returning.


	6. To the Head

_I'm gonna buy this place and start a fire,__  
__Stand here until I fill all your heart's desires.__  
__Because I'm gonna buy this place and see it burn,__  
__Do back the things it did to you in return._

--

The flight to Boston was eerily silent as Doggett and Scully were entrenched in their thoughts. What would they find once they finally touched down? Would they be able to uncover the reasons for Persicon's experiments? Or was their mission futile?

Who would they be once this was all over? Who could they be? Who was left in the wake of their demonic shadows? Mulder, Reyes...William, Luke?

Doggett realized that they had no one but each other now. It was a precarious equation.

"We're here." Scully's voice was barely above a whisper. It was the only words they spoke.

* * *

Persicon was located on a rundown road, far from prying eyes. The traffic lights were broken and there was not a soul in sight. It was the perfect cover, so unremarkable that Doggett worried that they had been given improper coordinates.

It was well past midnight as Doggett and Scully waited silently in their car, the dark night echoing the gloom in their hearts. They didn't need to speak the words; whether or not it was left unsaid, they both knew that this would be the end. This would be their beginning.

"The Lone Gunmen made us a key card. It should give us access into the Persicon building. Into the main entrance, anyway." Scully spoke in measured anguish. "They didn't want me to go, John, but they knew I wouldn't take no for an answer."

Doggett nodded but chose to ignore her pain in the same manner he was trying to ignore his own. "The coast seems clear, Scully. We should make our move."

Scully nodded and within seconds they made their way towards the door.

It was now or never.

* * *

Scully could feel her investigative instincts returning to her. It had been years since she had last scoped out a scene or even held a gun, but the biting familiarity was hard to deny. She was a well-trained agent. That would never change, no matter what she told herself.

They tread softly, on the lookout for unwanted company. Doggett stopped suddenly, firmly placing a finger to his lips.

Scully peered around the corner from behind Doggett's shoulder and spotted a tall man slide a key into a locked door and enter it. Without a moment's hesitation she ran in after him, squeezing through the closing door.

"Scully!" Doggett hissed at her, but the door had already slammed shut behind her, leaving him trapped on the other side. Alone.

* * *

"Agent Scully, I was expecting you." The man spoke without turning to face her.

"I'm not an Agent anymore." Scully spat back, her gun levelled at his head. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"Your reputation precedes you. At least, the reputation about your life from before. Before you lost everything." His answer was simple, yet the reality rippled through her veins.

She wouldn't let him get to her, whoever he was. She had to push onward. She needed to know the truth.

"What did you do to Mulder?"

The man finally turned, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Nothing that he hadn't already done to himself."

"I don't want your cryptic shit! Give me the truth. What the hell did you bastards do to Mulder?"

The man's thin smile swiftly disappeared. "The same thing that I'm going to do to you."

* * *

Doggett stared at the locked door in panic. Scully had gone in after that man and there was nothing he could do about it. What had Scully gotten herself into? He had no idea. He was lost.

A loud cry shattered his thoughts. Immediately Doggett's heart plummeted as it seemed certain that Scully was in trouble. Locked away behind an unmovable metal door. It was all his fault.

Then the voice cried out once more and Doggett realized that it was far too young to be Scully's. And it was coming from down the hall.

He bounded towards the door at the end of the corridor and pressed his ear up to it. The faint echo of suffering tugged forcefully at his conscience. Hurriedly, Doggett slammed into the door, knocking it down. Whoever was in there was in great pain. He rushed through the room towards the source of the sound. What he found sent every single one of his nerves on fire.

Rows and rows of medical instruments. Vials and test tubes filled with unidentifiable fluids. X-rays and MRIs and ultrasounds lined the walls. Pictures of human subjects, young and old, being examined in an endless battery of tests. They had definitely been given the correct coordinates.

Another howl erupted and Doggett spun around towards the noise. A young boy with dirty blonde hair lay trembling on a cold, sterile table. Bandages decorated his body, seemingly ignorant to his twisted moans. His hands were clenched in agony, a kind of suffering someone his age should never have to know. And his eyes…the same soft brown eyes…

In an instant, John Doggett experienced both life and death; he was reborn only to be torn apart.

"Luke!"

* * *

"It's a pity, Agent Scully." The man said with a glint in his eye. "I thought you would put up more of a fight. Mulder always had such faith in you."

Scully's eyes opened slowly. Where was she? How had she gotten here? She tried to reach for her gun before she realized her hands were chained above her head.

She had been drugged.

"You and your husband were impressive in some respects, I suppose. Persicon has been under wraps for years without a single hitch, but Mulder's intrusion forced us to move our operation." The man continued, scanning the computer console in front of him intently.

"What are you going to do to me?" Scully's voice was even. She was ready for her fate.

"If you've found us, others will too. We can't take that chance." He typed in a command on the console and Scully's eyes widened as a piercing alarm began to sound.

"This place needs to go. And so do you."

The man stepped toward Scully, cupping her face with his hand.

"Goodbye Dana Scully."

* * *

Luke looked up at his father, a vague recognition settling upon his face. Doggett opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by flashing lights and an alarming siren.

Luke jumped into action, frightened out of his pain.

"They're going to burn the building down!" He announced in a panic.

"What?"

"That alarm means the self-destruct mechanism has been activated. We don't have much time."

"How do you know that, Luke?"

The boy turned his eyes to the ground. "Sometimes I hear them talking when they think that I've been sedated."

Under normal circumstances, Doggett may have marvelled at the resourcefulness of his son. Instead, he only had one thought in his mind.

"Scully."

* * *

Scully could feel her head swimming. Her vision was blurred. She searched the area to find the man was missing. He had left her to die. Her thoughts raged as she realized she had missed her chance. She barely registered the ring of a grate falling a few feet away from her.

A young boy insistently tugged at her, releasing her from her shackles. Had he crawled through the grates to get to her? To save her from her inevitable demise? In her freedom she took an awkward step forward. He smiled encouragingly when she stumbled; her guardian angel.

"William?" She mumbled.

Luke watched her in concern. She was barely cognisant.

"We're going to get you out of here, Agent Scully."

* * *

Scully felt strong arms lifting her as she slowly regained consciousness.

"Doggett?"

"You alright, Scully?" His voice was dripping with tenderness.

She placed her feet on the ground and tested the strength of her body. She was relieved to find she could carry her own weight. The drugs were beginning to wear off.

Scully noticed the young boy staring at her studiously. The same boy who had freed her. She also noticed the bright glowing building behind them. Somehow, they were alive.

"He burnt the building down." It wasn't a question.

Doggett nodded. "But we all made it out in time."

Scully grimaced. To her it seemed to be a hollow victory.

"Is she ok, dad?" Luke asked and Scully looked up at Doggett in shock. His son? But wasn't John's son…?

"Scully, this is Luke." Doggett explained, seemingly as surprised as she was.

"I thought you said he – you mean they were…running tests on him?"

Doggett looked away and didn't reply. Luke fell silent. The scars on his face didn't lie. It was horrid.

* * *

"That man burned the Persicon building so that we couldn't track him anymore. He knew who I was, John, but now we have no evidence." They sat on a nearby bridge, the embers of the building still in sight.

"What are you going to do, Dana?"

Scully sighed. "I need to keep searching." Doggett caught her eye. "I need to do this. For every single man, woman and child Persicon has tested on. For everyone they plan to experiment on in the future. I need to do this for Mulder." She paused, glancing at Luke momentarily. "And I need to do this for William, so that he never experiences what your son had to."

It was a valid argument. It was logical. Scully's specialty. But Doggett could not fight the nagging fear that caused his hands to tremble.

Doggett opened his mouth, and Scully knew that he was going to offer to come with her. But she cut him off.

"You have a family, Doggett. You need to be there for them."

The way Mulder never was.

* * *

_So meet me by the bridge, meet me by the lane,__  
__When am I gonna see that pretty face again?__  
__Meet me on the road, meet me where I said,__  
__Blame it all upon a rush of blood to the head._

--

Her fingers grazed his chest. Her lips pressed against his cheek. He placed his hand on her hip. It was only in departure that she ever graced him with a peaceful smile. A confident smile. A real smile. A smile he would never forget.

He knew he shouldn't let her leave. They had worked so hard and now all he could do was let her go. He was sending her into dangers he couldn't even fathom. But with his hand resting on his son's shoulder he knew that he finally had something to live for.

And maybe she finally did too.

Doggett could feel the harsh wind blow ash at him from the scorched site. Day would break in a few hours. Until then, he still had the sweet dusk.

John Doggett watched Dana Scully walk into the night until the darkness obscured her fully from his sight. Never to return. Even then he did not move.

He waited all night.


End file.
